This background section is provided for the purpose of generally describing the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventor(s), to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Millions of wireless headsets have been sold around the world. These headsets pair with a host device, such as a computer, smartphone, or tablet, to enable untethered, hands-free communication. By way of such a headset, a wearing user can issue verbal commands that control a paired host device beyond basic telephony capabilities. For example, by way of verbal commands to a headset, a user may be able to unlock a host device, or access data stored within the host device. As headsets have been given greater and greater access to the data stored on host devices, security has become an increasing concern. As a result, some wireless headsets include a voice authentication feature that serves to preclude an unauthenticated user from accessing the contents of a paired host device. Unfortunately, voice authentication mechanisms are considered to be inherently weaker than alternative biometric authentication mechanisms, such as retinal scanners and fingerprint sensors. In particular, the current generation of voice authentication mechanisms suffer from a greater false acceptance rate (FAR) and false rejection rate (FRR) than these alternative authentication mechanisms. The FAR is the percentage of access attempts by unauthorized users that are incorrectly authenticated as valid by a biometric security system, and the FRR is the percentage of access attempts by authorized users that are incorrectly rejected by a biometric security system.